Elizabeth Cross Nichol loves working with smart people. As the co-founder of Apis Health Angels, there are lots of opportunities for discussions with investors and entrepreneurs as we move health innovation forward via an angel investing education program. As the CEO of Downstream Therapeutics, Elizabeth and her team are looking at novel ways of preventing the damage caused by ischemia/reperfusion injury. Guest lecturing at UW in regulatory affairs and entrepreneurial studies allows Elizabeth to share her love of learning with students. With credentials as an EY Consulting Manager, Boston University MBA/Health Administration, BHScPT, and practical clinical, academic and business experience, Elizabeth is passionate about her role as both an integrator and a catalyst.

Ryan Arnold is the Director of Regional Entrepreneurial Strategy at North Idaho College where he oversees the direction and development of innovation-focused initiatives and partnerships for the institution. This includes the NIC Venture Center which focuses on helping businesses develop new product ideas, the NIC Teaching and Learning Center which supports faculty professional development, and the strategic partnership with the on-campus Makerspace GIZMO-CDA which provides a space for creativity and entrepreneurial thinking. Additionally, Ryan co-manages the Northwest Entrepreneur Competition, an intercollegiate business pitch competition that annually awards over $44,000 to students entrepreneurs, and is an instructor at the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program at Gonzaga University.

Amelia works at Seattle University managing the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, which provides experiential learning opportunities to students that benefit the local Central-area community. Her work includes oversight of a grant from the JP Morgan Chase Foundation that aims to direct wealth to local diverse businesses, and engage our local BIPOC and especially Black communities and businesses and increase the resilience of our local business ecosystem. Her team plans to achieve this by increasing University spending with local Black- and BIPOC-owned businesses; building the capacity of community businesses to engage large institutional procurement pipelines; supporting local business in building networks; and developing a model to facilitate sharing and growth of neighborhood-focused supplier diversity efforts among peer universities and anchor institutions. Amelia earned her Master of Nonprofit Leadership as well as a Graduate Certificate in Fundraising Leadership at Seattle University.

Jeff Canin has a long career in financial services and venture capital. He is on the board of E8 Angels, the largest cleantech angel investment group in the US. and co-manager of its associated VC fund. He serves as Investor-in-Residence at UW’s Clean Energy Institute and as an advisor and investment committee member of VertueLab in Portland. Jeff previously was a general partner of E-Fund, a Seattle VC fund, following two years in the Seattle office of California-based US Venture Partners. Before moving to the Northwest, Mr. Canin was a Senior Technology Analyst in San Francisco with Salomon Brothers, Inc., where he received recognition as “All-Star Analyst: Computer Hardware” by the Wall Street Journal and ranked among Bloomberg Business News’ “Top-50 Stock Pickers”. Prior to Salomon Brothers, Mr. Canin worked as a senior technology analyst at Montgomery Securities and Hambrecht & Quist, Inc. Early in his career, he was employed by IBM as a Marketing Representative and Systems Engineer. Jeff Canin earned an MBA in Marketing and International Business from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BsC in Engineering and Economics from Brown University.

Albert is an Investment Partner at Dorm Room Fund (DRF), a student-run venture capital firm backed by First Round Capital investing in pre-seed and seed-stage student startups. As the first Investment Partner from the PNW, Albert covers sourcing for the region and owns diligence and investment decisions with the rest of the DRF SF/West Coast team. He is also the co-Founder and Managing Director of DubHacks Next, UW's first student-run startup incubator. DubHacks Next incubates tech startups and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence each winter, and is backed by Madrona Venture Group, AWS, 1517 Fund, and more. Albert is a 3rd-year undergraduate at the University of Washington majoring in Informatics and Business with experience in product management.

Jo has responsibility for the development and execution of strategic direction and programs at VertueLab. With the organization since its early days as Oregon BEST, she translated her previous decade of experience leading sustainable design at ZGF Architects into the creation of a collaborative research program focused on the sustainable built environment, and then into expanding the set of services offered to cleantech startups. Jo’s current focus is on ensuring VertueLab’s organizational excellence. She partners with our executive director in essential internal firm leadership activities such as strategic communications, managing VertueLab’s master work plan, and driving ongoing improvements in internal systems and cross-programmatic alignment. In addition, Jo leads our efforts for impact measurement and management, ensuring that VertueLab programs and supported companies are designed and managed to achieve our ambitious targets for triple bottom line impact. At VertueLab, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and issues of Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) are critically important to our organization. From internal policies, to external practices, it is part of our mission to fight for the growth of diversity and inclusivity across cleantech industries. We are continuously working to improve our own practices and policies.